‘Reintroduce teachers uniform in education service’ to restore past glory
A former Lecturer and Head of Department of Ga-Dangme of the University of Education, Winneba, Mr Emmanuel Tetteh Atteh, has advised the Ghana Education Service (GES) and the Ministry of Education (MoE) to publish the code of professional conduct of the teaching profession into a booklet to be given to every certificated teacher on his or her first appointment, if that does not exist.
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He said if that was done, the GES and the MoE would take stringent sanctions against teachers who undermine the very tenets of the rules and regulations that govern the teaching profession.
Mr Atteh was speaking on the topic; “Towards making teaching a real profession” at the 10th graduation of Ada College of Education (ADACOE) in the Ada East District of the Greater Accra Region.
Teaching as a call
The guest speaker, who is an old student of the college, noted with concern that teaching should be a calling and like the clergy, “must have that call that will make practitioners devote and commit themselves to its service or cause”.
He said unfortunately, however, recently the floodgates were opened for any calibre of persons into the teaching profession without giving due consideration to purity and piety.
Mr Atteh said teaching, as a special endeavour, needed people who were committed, responsible, dedicated, strong willed, brilliant, level headed and all the good attributes that a human trainer should possess.
“I believe that teaching requires people with integrity, good moral and good social standing, as well as very high academic expertise and not for just anybody at all,” he stressed.
He suggested that there should be teachers’ professional body to oversee, regulate, control, and grow the teaching profession into a real profession as it should be.
The guest speaker was also of the view that the government should revisit, and reintroduce the idea of teachers’ uniform with the embossment of their ranks on them as it is in other services. That, he explained, would bring back and restore the past prestige, image, honour, and glory that teachers enjoyed.
The Principal of the College, Mr Cephas Kwasi Bodakpui, in his report said to meet the demands of tertiary status, the college had developed 14 out of 18 policies pending approval from the governing council.
He announced that an E-portfolio was also developed for effective on-campus Teaching Practice and out-segment teaching practice sessions.
Mr Bodakpui said both management and staff were engaged in Ghana Transforming Teacher Education and Learning (Ghana T-TEL) capacity-building professional development programme, sponsored by the UK Aid to enhance their effectiveness and efficiency.
He appealed to the government, old students and well-meaning individuals to help complete some of the college’s abandoned building projects.
Graduands
A total of 549 teachers, made up of 347 regular and 202 Sandwich, graduated.
Two students each from the regular and the Sandwich groups had First Class.
In the regular group, 63 had Second Class (Upper), 159 Second Class (Lower), 113 Third Class, 11, had pass and two failed, while in the Sandwich class, 23 had second class upper, 65 had second class lower, 90 third class and 23 had pass.
Professor Kankam Boadu, the Vice Dean of the School of Graduate Studies of the University of Cape Coast, on behalf of the Vice-Chancellor conferred Diploma in Basic Education on both regular and the Sandwich groups.
Messrs Emmanuel Ofotsu Apronti and Joseph Kwame Tigbliogu were awarded with cash prizes and citations for being the overall best students in the regular and Sandwich groups, respectively.
